How to Use Twitter for Traffic

Twitter is not just for fun but can also be used much like other social networking media to gain more traffic. In this case, you want to attract more blog traffic. Twitter can help with that.

Like other social networks, millions of people use Twitter. It is a micro-universe of potential visitors just waiting to be tapped. The question is how to get them to take a look at you.

First of all, sign up for an account. You can’t find the right people unless you get in the game. Don’t worry about creating a business account at this point. You are only concerned with connecting with people now.

Next, get involved. Read other people’s tweets; join as a follower for popular tweeters. You can use Twitter applications to track the tweets of others and also do keyword searches for interesting tweets. Comment on current tweets and get a feel for how it works and who everyone is following.

The best thing about Twitter is that it works in real time from your PC. You can ask questions to find out any type of information. If you are looking for followers (Twitter friends) interested in gardening (if that is what your blog is about), pose the question in a tweet and wait for responses. You’ll be surprised what you hear back.

Posing questions is one way to find suitable traffic for your blog. You want more visitors but the kind of visitors who are likely to come back and buy from you if you are selling a product. It is a research tool that returns immediate results.

More advice…

There are a few things to observe. In your tweets, use keywords. It might be hard with so few characters, but you want to include searchable words that anyone will enter into a Twitter search engine to find your tweets.

Don’t be a spammer. If your tweets always include links to your blog or your work on other sites, people will get the idea that you are not there to connect but just to fill the site with links. Use the site to find others with similar business interests or to pose interesting views and get feedback. You can link to your blog when appropriate but don’t overdo it or people will get that fishy feeling about you.

It takes time to build up a following of followers on Twitter just like any other social networking site. The plus with Twitter is that the results are more immediate that with other social sites. Find the targeted visitors you are after with a few questions and then join in the twittering to build a rapport that translates into more traffic.